I know there are a lot of people here who are dub haters. I always wondered if in Japan when something like Legend of Korra gets dub are there Japanese fans who go "Japanese dub sucks, English with Japanese subs are better"

I also hear dub haters complain that English dubs change the opening so that hate it. Guess what I just watch Transformers Prime in Japanese and they changed the open.

The problem with your question is that you are implying American animation is ever dubbed into Japanese when it factually isn't. Since American animation isn't dubbed in the first place it's pretty impossible for them to say

Personally I don't think it's the version that's what causing the issue, it's the voice actors themselves. Obvious some are good and some are bad, that goes both American and Japanese. I dislike some of the dub version anime, because their voice really doesn't fit the character most of the time, and it sound really weird. I had seem many version of same anime in many different languages (ex: Detective Conan, aka case close) like Chinese, Japanese, and English. I have to say English dub Voice is the worst of them all.

I prefer the English Version Dragon Ball Z than other version, I really think the voice is way better.

The problem with your question is that you are implying American animation is ever dubbed into Japanese when it factually isn't. Since American animation isn't dubbed in the first place it's pretty impossible for them to say

The real problem is you assume the average Japanese person cares about American animation.

Your statement implies the average Japanese person cares about anime.

Stuff like Doraemon and Sazae-san are cultural icons and get massive ratings which put any American cartoon ratings in America to shame. Anime is not like animation is in the west where it's for kids only. People of all ages watch Doraemon, Sazae-San, Detective Conan, and etcetera.

The real problem is you assume the average Japanese person cares about American animation.

They don't. American animation does terrible in Japan and not noteworthy

So you are saying American animation is a niche market in Japan since they bother to dub it in the first place means enough people are watching it to make it profitable.

Just like Anime is a niche market in the West since stuff like King of the Hill blows away anime.

The average American doesn't care about anime either ,and yet a bit of this niche market rages out of control over dubs.

It works differently in Japan.

In America, companies license shows and dub them then pitch them to channels who bid for a show then air it.

Here in Japan, American companies force their shows on the Japanese. Disney and Nickelodoen and Cartoon Network by digital channels in Japan and then dub the shows themselves and air them on their home channel.

Japan's getting American shows whether they like it or not, becaise Viacom and Time Warner are big enough to buy channels.

Of course, most Japanese don't care about those channels. Nickelodeon Japan's viewers got so low they had to kill the whole channel and Viacom pulled Nickelodeon out of Japan. Only Cartoon Network Japan and Disney Channel Japan remain. But that doesn't mean they're doing well. You NEVER see those shows on any ratings charts. Japan would rather watch anime than American stuff.

Mertonanwrote:
Stuff like Doraemon and Sazae-san are cultural icons and get massive ratings which put any American cartoon ratings in America to shame. Anime is not like animation is in the west where it's for kids only. People of all ages watch Doraemon, Sazae-San, Detective Conan, and etcetera.

So The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad are all "for kids only"? Likewise on cable, South Park, Futurama and other animation on Comedy Central?

BTW, didn't I just see you refer to Detective Conan as a kids show in another topic?

The highest rated anime in the most recent ratings was about 10 points below the #1 on that list and about 3 points below #10, while the next group of anime started at about 7 points below #10. I would estimate the top ranked anime would appear in the lower 5 of the top 20, with #2 at the bottom of the top 20 or even below.

A rerun of The Simpsons in late May garnered 43% of the 18-49 share of the #1 rated show on broadcast TV that week. Listed U.S. ratings seem to want to ignore anyone younger than 18 or older than 49, making direct comparison with Japanese ratings a bit difficult, but by comparison, the #2 anime in Japan would come in at about 41% of the top show (and like most anime, wouldn't have been a rerun). It doesn't appear to be unusual for 1 or more of the shows on Fox's Sunday night animation lineup to tie the 18-49 share for the top broadcast show that night.

One also needs to keep in mind that Japanese broadcast TV faces substantially less competition from cable and satellite than broadcast TV in the United States. In 1979, Battestar Galactica was cancelled despite a 27-28% share. In today's market that would be considered a runaway blockbuster hit. It also is on par with the typical share for Japan's #1 show in the modern era.

Mertonanwrote:
Stuff like Doraemon and Sazae-san are cultural icons and get massive ratings which put any American cartoon ratings in America to shame. Anime is not like animation is in the west where it's for kids only. People of all ages watch Doraemon, Sazae-San, Detective Conan, and etcetera.

So The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad are all "for kids only"? Likewise on cable, South Park, Futurama and other animation on Comedy Central?

BTW, didn't I just see you refer to Detective Conan as a kids show in another topic?

Yes, Conan is a kids show watched by people of all ages. 6 year old kids to grandparents.

The highest rated anime in the most recent ratings was about 10 points below the #1 on that list and about 3 points below #10, while the next group of anime started at about 7 points below #10. I would estimate the top ranked anime would appear in the lower 5 of the top 20, with #2 at the bottom of the top 20 or even below.

A rerun of The Simpsons in late May garnered 43% of the 18-49 share of the #1 rated show on broadcast TV that week. Listed U.S. ratings seem to want to ignore anyone younger than 18 or older than 49, making direct comparison with Japanese ratings a bit difficult, but by comparison, the #2 anime in Japan would come in at about 41% of the top show (and like most anime, wouldn't have been a rerun). It doesn't appear to be unusual for 1 or more of the shows on Fox's Sunday night animation lineup to tie the 18-49 share for the top broadcast show that night.

One also needs to keep in mind that Japanese broadcast TV faces substantially less competition from cable and satellite than broadcast TV in the United States. In 1979, Battestar Galactica was cancelled despite a 27-28% share. In today's market that would be considered a runaway blockbuster hit. It also is on par with the typical share for Japan's #1 show in the modern era.

You're directly comparing two different countries broadcasting. I hope you realize how idiotic and baseless that is. The seperation of demographics in America alone makes the comparison worthless (only MALES of a certain age get counted for something'? What about females?)

Not to mention ratings shares from two different airings that are two years apart mean nothing. If you really want to do that, you have to compare same week. Even comparing shares in the same week doesnt consider time slot or anything.

You're really delusional if you don't think animation on TV is a bigger deal in Japan than in America.

Mertonanwrote:
Yes, Conan is a kids show watched by people of all ages. 6 year old kids to grandparents.

"For kids only" being the main point.

Interesting flexibility in definitions there.

You're directly comparing two different countries broadcasting. I hope you realize how idiotic and baseless that is. The seperation of demographics in America alone makes the comparison worthless (only MALES of a certain age get counted for something'? What about females?)

Not to mention ratings shares from two different airings that are two years apart mean nothing. If you really want to do that, you have to compare same week. Even comparing shares in the same week doesnt consider time slot or anything.

You're really delusional if you don't think animation on TV is a bigger deal in Japan than in America.

Also note that the Anime in Japan ratings topic I linked to here at CR goes all the way back to 2008. If you think comparing the same week will make a significant difference, be my guest.

The delusion is that you think animation in Japan is so much more successful, when in fact in both countries, there are a handful of shows that garner significant ratings, while the remainder are clearly a niche market.

Even when you account for Japan's population being only 41% of the U.S., I think you'll have a difficult time coming up with an OVA in the past 5 years that sold over 66,195 copies (41% of the lowest selling title on that list), much less 280,510 (41% of the highest).

I mentioned OVAs, as that as what these "movies" are closest too, since they never aired in a theater, and were direct to video with any TV airing coming only some time after release.

No doubt you'll claim the U.S. titles sold more because they were priced left. Unfortunately for that claim, attempts in the past to boost anime sales in Japan with lower prices didn't turn out so well.

Back to your other claim that Japanese have no interest in American animation, perhaps we should discuss sales of Disney anime and Pixar movies in Japan.